Aishwarya Rajesh as Kousalya is passionate to become a cricketer from her childhood. How she surpasses her family and society issues and achieves her Kanaa follows the remaining story.
Debut director Arunraja Kamaraj’s intention to provide a quality Sports movie with a social angle is crystal clear. The commercial elements have been packaged neatly which will click at the apt places. There are some spots where the drama takes the upper hand and the game becomes flat. The characters are established in a sensible manner and human emotions have been handled so well. The childhood and teenage portions of Aishwarya Rajesh have been crafted beautifully.
The narration in the first half is good except for the odd-man-out cinematic one-side love sequences. Aishwarya Rajesh’s bonding with her father and the character arc of her mother have been conceived finely. The initial net matches at the village, public talks, starting trouble for the game and male domination are discussed on a realistic note. The way the timeline has been conveyed by linking with real Indian cricket is exciting. The fact that the main character is a Bowler is refreshing.
The way Nelson Dilipkumar’s (Sivakarthikeyan) character gets introduced at the beginning is smart. Dialogues are a huge plus to the film and the context is easily explained by words. The issues taken up are strongly conveyed and the core message hits right on the face. The story is regular and predictable as the same Sports genre template is followed. The screenplay is gripping till halfway with many top quality moments. Post that, the drama is a bit overdone but there are a few high points in the latter as well.
The game of cricket has been researched perfectly and some not-so-popular rules are induced on screen. SK coaching strategy is interesting and a justified twist in the pre-climax are clap-worthy. The politics in cricket has also been mentioned, but only in a jiggling way. The mother sentiment scene followed by ‘Oonjala’ song is great. After the interval, it feels the story starts once again from again from the scratch and the interval block is in a hurried pace. The staging from league level to International level could have had more details as the transformation was not fulfilling.
The agriculture and farmer angle is commendable but after a point the ingredients become usual. The climax award ceremony sequence is splendid with full of emotions. There could have been more goosebumps game-elements in the second half as the excitement ratio was quite low. Also, the mixing of cricket and agriculture could have been more appropriate to create a better impact. The cinematic factors after the break-point go beyond the meter. Also, the Hindi to Tamil dubbing tone maintained at the later half drops the nativity feel even though there is a no better option to present.
Aishwarya Rajesh steals the show with ease with her play and noteworthy performance, the proven talent has once again shined in this lovely role. The casting is apt, the girls who acted in Aishwarya’s childhood roles were look-wise perfect. Sathyaraj on the other side rules the screen with his power-packed character, strong screen presence, and neat dialogue delivery. Debutante Dharshan played his part decently but his role was not efficient enough to create a hard impression. Sivakarthikeyan occupies the screen in the final hour in a meaty role.
Music director Dhibu Ninan Thomas’ songs are in the chartbuster list and the placements are clean. His background music adds momentum to the visuals, re-recording simply stands out. Cinematographer Dinesh Krishnan has provided exactly what the story requires. Editor Ruban’s editing is at its best, his cuts make the storytelling more appealing at many places.
Verdict: A quality Sports drama that addresses two much-needed social issues.
